Friday, October 01, 2010

Bloomberg: 'Irrational' Tea Party Not a Political Movement

Mayor Bloomberg went on for quite a while about immigration reform, and about Washington's roadblocks to progress in general during his WOR-AM radio show with host John Gambling, before turning the topic to the Tea Party.

"The wake-up call, John, is called the Tea Party. That's what the Tea Party is. It's funny, it's not a political movement. They don't, they're not pro-choice or pro-life. They're not pro-gun or anti-gun. They're not pro-gay-rights or anti-gay-rights. They're not with any of the social issues."

And then, Bloomberg, the registered Independent, put the Tea Party in some historical context. "They are a group of people, and you see this every eight, 10 years, there was a Perot boomlet if you remember, and then there's the, there was a McCain boomlet eight, 10 years ago.

Huh? A McCain boomlet? What the hell is he babbling about? DId I somehow miss that "McCain boomlet from 2000 to 2002?

"And it's, 'I'm sick of it.' That's what people are saying. 'I don't know what the answer is, your job is to figure it out, Mr. Congressman, Mr. Senator, Miss President, whatever it is. But I'm just telling you, I'm annoyed. I'm not going to do, I don't want to take this anymore."

The billionaire businessman-turned-Big Apple mayor then turned to the "direction" of the Tea Party.

"And so they cast out," he said, and in many cases they, their casting out may be irrational in terms of the direction they go, but there is the argument that they've listened to both Republicans and Democrats again and again saying, 'If you elect me I'll fix it.'"

This from a guy who was a Democrat, then became a Republican (in name only) to run for mayor, and is now an independent. But it's Tea Partiers who are irrational, not a guy with an identity crisis.